Roderic barrett

1920-2000

Roderic Barrett is one of my personal favourate artists. A man who only produced a few hundred works in is life time but each one has a soul. I am always happy to buy his work should anyone have one for sale and I never tire of looking at what he produced.Barrett was an outspoken defender of what he called "authentic" art; he was not concerned with the shock of the new, but with getting it right. In this sense, too, he was a deeply moral artist, to whom consistency, hard work and honesty were important. His parents where from a hard working background and some of the repeating imagery of open doors, chairs and candles hark back to his childhood.

Roderic Barrett's honesty made him a perceptive, and sometimes sharp, critic of his own work, as well as of that of others. Given half a chance, he would rework earlier compositions, sometimes several times. Despite occasional battles with depression he was a long time tutor at the RCA and many artists have him to thank for his guidance .